Tough road ahead for distributing donations

Updated 11:17 pm, Tuesday, July 16, 2013

NEWTOWN -- While plenty of attention has focused on $11.4 million in donations to the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, another $10 million has been donated to dozens of other organizations in the community.

Some of that money has been disbursed to the 26 families who lost family members in the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Other money has been used to pay for mental health expenses and the needs of first responders.

In all, about $21 million has been donated to 66 different organizations, the largest being the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation, according to the state Attorney General's office.

The organizations, including the foundation, are deciding how the money will be distributed.

It's a road that can be fraught with controversy.

Victims' family members have questioned the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation's decision that $7.7 million would go directly to the 40 families most affected by the tragedy.

Foundation officials said some of the remaining money must be reserved for the long-term needs of the community, a move they say conforms to the group's original mission of helping the families and the community.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, however, wants the foundation to use an outside administrator to help distribute the remaining funds.

While Accomando said the fund's formula for distributing the money is simple and straightforward, he acknowledged it's unfortunate other charitable groups are struggling to make similar decisions.

"At the end of the day, people donated to these (organizations) because they saw these children and it broke their heart," he said. "If people stayed simple with their mission, and applied that money to where the compassion was directed, then all the answers become a lot easier."

Newtown Selectman James Gaston said t while some organizations have already disbursed donations, others are still developing criteria for giving it out.

"What is so important is that you have to stay true to your mission statement," he said. "Anything else would be not only unfair, but illegal."

Dan Rosenthal, chairman of the distribution subcommittee established by the Newtown Rotary Sandy Hook School Fund, said officials continually refer to the mission statement when they review requests for money.

Rosenthal said their mission is to help meet the short- and long-term needs of victims' relatives; the faculty, students and administration of Sandy Hook Elementary School; and the first responders.

So far, the Newtown Rotary fund has raised about $750,000, Rosenthal said. Rotary officials have distributed about $250,000, mostly to help victims' families and others affected by the tragedy meet financial obligations and to pay for mental health care.

"If we start to see less and less people submitting expense reimbursements, then we may shift gears and focus on longer-term needs," he said. According to the organization's mission, longer-term needs would likely involve mental health counseling and needs within Newtown schools.

But some organization members, Rosenthal said, were concerned about setting an arbitrary guideline for when to shift to longer-term needs.

"If we had set an arbitrary guideline, we'd be creating bigger problems later on," he said. "If we had to cut off funding because an arbitrary limit had been reached, people might not get the care they need."